Aeroservoelastic analysis of storm-ride-through control strategies for wind turbines

An investigation of a control strategy to allow wind turbines to operate at high wind speeds by derating the rotor speed and generator torque set-points is presented. The investigation analyzes the wind turbine aeroservoelastic behavior in the above rated operational range by computing the aerodynamic gains and closed-loop eigenvalue solutions using a high-delity linear model.

A simple strategy to reduce the reference rotor speed based on a pitch angle feedback is presented and analyzed. It is shown that high aerodynamic gains for operation at high wind speeds requires special handling in the scheduling of the controller gains. The computed closed-loop modal frequencies and damping ratios show how most turbine modes become less damped as the rotor speed is derated, and at very high winds the frequency and damping of the first drivetrain torsion mode are significantly reduced.

Possible resonance problems can also be seen from the computed frequencies, and these problems may be worsened by the decreased damping during storm-ride-through. Finally it is shown that the dynamics of the pitch feedback to the derated generator speed is significantly affected by the operational wind speed, resulting in a slow response at high wind speeds.